Improve Your Life
There are many ways to improve your life, but few create lasting results. Often, that is due to the nature of change, and the desire to improve one’s situation drastically and quickly. Indeed, it can be hard to muster patience when things are truly out of control. But, even then, it is often the best path to pursue.
Rather than attempting big hurdles, progressive change comes into your life when you ease into it gradually. The more you embrace changes that make you feel better, the more you will build a solid foundation for reaching larger goals.
The first step to attaining gradual and reliable improvement in your life is to simply change one little thing. Not just any little thing, either, but something that you know you can easily do. Take a walk once a week, find a lower calorie and cholesterol margarine, fold the clothes you normally pile in your drawers, or put those scattered photos into an album. Little changes that make you gradually feel better are a wonderful way to reward yourself for embarking on the path of change, one step at a time.
Next, give up something little. It should be something that you don’t really like or need, but otherwise it can be anything. Give up that committee you really don’t want to be on, that junk in the back corner of your closet, the drive-through breakfast that empties your wallet, or the late hours you keep. If you find something you can do without, it will open up more space in your life. More space leads to more time, and supports your efforts to gradually move toward living your life in a way that brings you peach and happiness.
Finally, work on just one problem. Not a huge problem, but something that can be broken up into very tiny steps. If you need to do your taxes, gather just the needed forms that you received in the mail. If you need to paint the back-yard fence, paint just one panel. If you need to lose 30 pounds, resolve to lose just the first two. If you have never mustered the courage to get a massage, and your muscles are wracked in pain, do the research to find a reputable masseuse. It may not seem remarkable to take a single step toward one of your many larger goals, but one step always leads to another.
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Improving Your Life – Be Happy
Sometimes when I feel like the world is just too heavy, I look around and find people who continued to live fascinating and wonderful lives. And then thoughts come popping into my mind like bubbles from nowhere – “How did their life become so adorably sweet? How come they still can manage to laugh and play around despite a busy stressful life?” Then I pause and observed for awhile… I figured out that maybe, they start to work on a place called ‘self’.
So, how does one become genuinely happy? Step one to improving your life is to love yourself.
My theology professor once said that “loving means accepting.” To love oneself means to accept that you are not a perfect being, but behind the imperfections must lie a great ounce of courage to be able to discover ways on how to improve your repertoire to recover from our mistakes.
Genuine happiness also pertains to contentment. When you are contented with the job you have, the way you look, with your family, your friends, the place you live in, your car, and all the things you now have – truly, you know the answer to the question “how to be genuinely happy.”
When we discover a small start somewhere from within, that small start will eventually lead to something else, and to something else. But if you keep questioning life lit it has never done you any good, you will never be able to find genuine happiness.
I believe that life is about finding out about right and wrong, trying and failing, wining and losing. These are things that happen as often as you inhale and exhale. Failure, in a person’s life has become as abundant and necessary as air. But this should not hinder us from becoming happy or prone to depression
How to be genuinely happy in spite all these? I tell you… every time you exert effort to improve the quality of life and your being, whether it is cleaning up your room, helping a friend, taking care of your sick dog, fail on board exams and trying again, life gives you equivalent points for that.
Imagine life as a big score board like those which are used in the NFLs. Every time you take a step forward, you make scoring points. Wouldn’t it be nice to look at that board at the end of each game and think to yourself “Whew! I got a point today. I’m glad I gave it a shot.”, instead of looking at it all blank and murmur “Geez, I didn’t even hit a score today. I wish I had the guts to try out. We could have won!” and then walk away.
Genuine happiness isn’t about driving the hottest Formula 1 car, nor getting the employee of the year award, earning the highest 13th month pay, or beating the sales quota. Sometimes, the most sought after prizes in life doesn’t always go to the fastest, the strongest, the bravest or not even the best. So, how do you become genuinely happy? Every one has his own definition of ‘happiness’. Happiness for a writer may mean launching as much best selling books as possible. Happiness for a basketball rookie may mean getting the rookie of the year award. Happiness for a beggar may mean a lot of money. Happiness for a business man may mean success. So, really now, how do we become genuinely happy? Simple. You don’t have to have the best things in this world. Its about doing and making the best out of every single thing. When you find yourself smiling at your own mistake and telling your self “Oh, I’ll do better next time”, you carry with you a flame of strong will power to persevere that may spread out like a brush fire. You possess a willingness to stand up again and try – that will make you a genuinely happy person.
When you learn to accept yourself and your own faults. You pass step 1 in the project “how to become genuinely happy”.For as long as you know how to accept others, you will also be accepted. For as long as you love and know how to love, you will receive love ten folds back.
Again, throw me that same question “how to become genuinely happy?”. I’ll refer you to a friend of mine who strongly quoted- “Most of us know that laughter is the best medicine to life’s aches and pain. But most of us don’t know that the best kind of laughter is laughter over self. Coz then you don’t just become happy… you become free.”